抽象的

Evaluation of chemerin and leptin in serum of chronic hepatitis C patients.

Phebe Lotfy Abdel-Messeih, Heba Hosny Mansour, Dalia Ramzy Ibrahim

Chronic hepatitis C (CHC) is considered a metabolic liver disease. Several non-invasive biomarkers that mirror liver injury progression have been proposed. Child pugh score including: Albumin, bilirubin and prothrombin time (INR) is used to assess prognosis in CHC. The aim of this study was to find out if the novel adipokines, leptin and chemerin, could be considered as additional tools for assessment of prognosis of CHC. The study was performed on 20 male patients with CHC, aged between 40 and 60 (mean value 47.5 ? 11.1). Exclusion criteria included: hepatitis B, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) co-infection, hepatocellular carcinoma, diabetes mellitus, obesity and renal or heart failure. All patients and controls underwent the following laboratory investigations: Chemerin and leptin, alphafetoprotein, liver function tests, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), blood glucose level, fasting insulin and insulin resistance. A significantly higher serum chemerin and leptin concentrations were recorded in CHC patients compared to the control. The significant negative correlation recorded between chemerin and albumin, as well as between leptin and albumin demonstrates that a significant increase in the level of these adipokines occurs as liver function worsens. Moreover, a significant positive correlation between chemerin and prothrombin time (INR) indicates that cardiovascular risk was higher in CHC patients compared to controls. It could be concluded that chemerin and leptin may be considered of prognostic significance in CHC which might prevent the need to liver biopsy